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The Supreme Court upheld Michigan's ban in a 6-2 ruling on the use of racial affirmative action in its state universities. Jennifer Gratz, center, was the driving force behind the 2006 initiative. Photo: Zumapress.com

On Tuesday the Supreme Court handed down another key decision involving racial preferences, ruling 6 to 2 in favor of a Michigan state law banning them.

Before we get into details, it’s worth reviewing the relevant part of the law. It says Michigan public universities and school districts “shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education or public contracting.”

Sounds straightforward: In Michigan, no discrimination allowed.

The law passed handily as a ballot initiative back in 2006. But in 2011, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals said the section regarding admissions to state universities violated the 14th Amendment.

To get to that conclusion, of course, you have to argue that a state provision requiring equal treatment under the law for all races somehow violates a federal constitutional amendment also requiring equal treatment for all races. It’s an argument that makes sense only in appeals courts and faculty lounges.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court declined to rule on the race-based admissions preferences themselves. Instead, the justices limited themselves to saying the people of Michigan were well within their democratic rights to pass the law they did.

Justice Anthony Kennedy put it this way: “It is demeaning to the democratic process to presume that the voters are not capable of deciding an issue of this sensitivity on decent and rational grounds.”